Homelessness and hunger hand-in-hand
The phrases “stay-at-home order” and “shelter in place” have become associated with ways to avoid exposing oneself to the novel coronavirus.
But what if you have no home or no place in which to shelter, making you perhaps even more vulnerable to contagious disease?
An agenda item the Washington County commissioners approved last week – although no county funds were required – shone a spotlight on the challenge of being homeless during a pandemic.
The source of what is known as the Emergency Solutions Grant comes from federal dollars through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Blueprints, the organization formerly known as Community Action Southwest, was authorized to provide $10,000 worth of emergency shelter services through the end of the year.
Blueprints may not be the first agency that comes to mind when a county resident thinks of sheltering the homeless, mostly because it has offices, conference rooms, preschool programs and little libraries, but no soup kitchens or bunk beds.
The place in Washington that’s usually associated with emergency shelter is the City Mission, 84 W. Wheeling St., a fixture there since 1963 but with a presence that pre-dated its current home going back to the 1940s. But the mission “paused” its intake of new residents when the pandemic struck.
“The county consulted us and asked if we could help out in this situation,” said Darlene Bigler, chief executive officer of Blueprints, in an interview earlier this week. “With this small grant, Washington County’s trying to fill in the gap.”
The plan calls for a Blueprints caseworker to find a motel room for someone in need as a step toward more permanent rental and a job.
The employment part of the picture is “definitely not easy” as jobless figures climb, Bigler said, “but there are businesses that are still open and they continue to need employees.
“We’ve been getting five to 10 calls a day about rental assistance, housing and assistance with utility bills.”
Referrals for rapid re-housing or emergency shelter so far have come from the Washington County Human Services Department, newly helmed by Kimberly Rogers, who is also overseeing the Children and Youth Services agency, but leads could come from a variety of people, including law enforcement.
Blueprints encourages those who need assistance with utility bills to apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is still open.
The state has imposed a 30-day moratorium on evictions while at the federal level there is a 90-day moratorium for those living in public housing and private housing under Section 8.
“I doubt the state will extend the moratorium partly because landlords need that rent,” Bigler said. “We’re working on a program to meet people’s future housing needs, after stimulus checks and unemployment compensation run out, for homeowners and renters, including a lot of people who have never relied on government or human services programs in their lives,” Bigler said, estimating it will take about three months for federal resources to arrive.
“We’ll be working with people over time to provide housing assistance, financial coaching, case management and job development.”
Providing an update on the City Mission was Dr. Sally Mounts, chief development officer.
“We made a conscious decision early on to protect our frail population. Three-quarters of our residents have ongoing medical issues. A third of our residents are over 60.
“So, in consultation with our medical director, Dr. Dan Lattanzi, and our medical clinic partner, Centerville Clinics, we made a decision to pause our intakes to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to our vulnerable group of temporarily housed men, women and children.”
Since then, the mission has received about 45 calls for “intakes,” mostly from other organizations, who were referred to other agencies.
As of Wednesday morning, no resident or staff member from City Mission has contracted COVID-19, according to Mounts.
Wheeling, W.Va., made the news recently when it bulldozed homeless encampments, but the development director said no one from the Wheeling homeless sites has contacted the City Mission, she said.
The City Mission typically fills 98% of its 160 beds. Like Blueprints, its focus is moving individuals from homelessness to independent living.
“About 15% of our residents, or 30 individuals, have moved on to their own jobs and apartments,” Mounts wrote in response to an email inquiry.
The City Mission has turned some of its thrift stores into pop-up food pantries, distributing 2,301 bags of food bags worth more than $43,000 to needy members of the community. Each bag contains about $20 worth of items, said Gary Porter, communications manager. The mission received a donation from the Washington County Community Foundation to purchase enough food for 1,000 bags, but it anticipates hundreds more will be needed during the coming weeks. Mounts said Bridge the Gap Foundation and several generous donors have also contributed.
“Many people are out of work, yet have not yet received their stimulus check or their first unemployment check,” Mounts wrote. “The pantries are a wonderful bridge, especially since we can add in donated items like toiletries, bread, and treats like chocolate Easter candy donated by Sarris and Macy’s.”
The mission has partnered with the Canonsburg-Houston Ministerial Association to aid families in the Canon-McMillan area and also in four other locations.
The mission applied for and received a loan through the Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection Plan, so it was able to recently rehire 58 individuals.
“They are now getting our stores ready for their eventual reopenings. That will really help our funding issues, as the stores are responsible for about 39% of our annual revenue.” Mounts wrote.
She called the community’s response to the crisis “extraordinary. As a native daughter of Washington County I have always known that the community’s philanthropic roots run deep. But even I have been amazed at the response to our appeals for assistance. The people around here don’t just give from the interest of their lives, they reach deep down into the principal, as well. They appeal to their churches and civic groups for City Mission. They research their companies’ foundations and act as advocates for our grant proposals.”
The mission has floated the idea of erecting a heated tent in its parking lot for supervised overnight stays. The premises would be disinfected during the daytime for the next night’s lodgers, but the concept remains in the proposal stage, according to Mounts.